Thousands of them have posted nasty comments on his Instagram pictures. The purpose of their rage isn’t really coherent, but as far as I can tell, there are two layers to it. One, Sofia Richie is not Selena Gomez, and therefore she is a horrible person for Bieber to date. And two, Bieber should listen to his fans and break up with her immediately, because he owes his fans for his success.

Bieber, quite reasonably, thinks he can date whoever he wants. On his most recent photo, he posted a caption that chastised his commenters for their vitriol [sic]: “I’m gonna make my Instagram private if you guys don’t stop the hate this is getting out of hand, if you guys are really fans you wouldn’t be so mean to people that I like.”

Then Selena, who Justin allegedly cheated on, allegedly got involved herself, commenting: “If you can’t handle the hate then stop posting pictures of your girlfriend lol — it should be special between you two only. Don’t be mad at your fans. They love you.”

If the Instagram and Twitter comments are anything to go by, Bieber’s fans are overwhelmingly on Selena’s side.

There also seems to be a growing sense among fans that Bieber is leaving them behind. Not only did the hashtag #RIPBeliebers start trending after Bieber posted that his fans were “out of hand,” but back in May, he introduced a no-photo policy that left many of his followers feeling betrayed.

“It has gotten to the point that people won’t even say hi to me or recognise me as a human,” Bieber explained in an Instagram post about why he will no longer be taking pictures with fans.”I want to be able to keep my sanity. I realise people will be disappointed but I don’t owe anybody a picture.”

As for Sofia Richie, she’ll probably be fine. She’s a part of various well-regarded squads, including Kylie Jenner’s and Bella Hadid’s, and has wisely disabled comments on her Instagram posts.